Across Time and Space, There's Always Earth
by Wanderer D
Summary: A new energy signal discovered in the middle of the Reaper invasion might be just what Shepard needs... or perhaps it might doom them all. Despite ending up in unexpected places, Shepard knows what she aims to protect, because, even across Time and Space... there's always Earth.


Across Time and Space: There's always Earth  
An X-COM: Enemy Unknown & Mass Effect Crossover  
~By Wanderer D~

o.0.O.0.o

"Commander, we have arrived at the Micah system," EDI informed Shepard, who looked up from her terminal.

"Thank you EDI." She stretched. "I'll meet the team in the Shuttle Bay. I want you and Javik to coordinate from the Normandy with the Proto-protean device analysis. Tell Tali and Liara to meet me and Garrus down there. Tell Lieutenant Cortez to get ready to take us there."

"Lieutenant Cortez is currently in MedBay, undergoing treatment for fever," EDI replied. "It is unadvisable to expose him to the rest of the crew until Dr. Michaels has established if the virus might affect other members."

Shepard shook her head. "Shouldn't have taken with me to the Leviathan mission," she sighed, raising her voice. "EDI tell James that he's piloting and he'd better keep the Kodiak in one piece or Cortez _will_ have his head."

"Will do, Commander."

Shepard took a deep breath, making a quick stop to double check her armor before taking the elevator down to the Shuttle Bay. As soon as it opened, she was face to face with a krogan, who smiled widely at her.

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

The pair stared at each other for a moment.

"Why do I have the feeling you're not getting out?" Shepard finally asked.

"You know me too well, Shepard." Wrex's shit-eating grin only grew bigger. "I'm going with you. I've had enough of hanging around the ship, even if Javik is... entertaining."

Shepard sighed, stepping into the elevator. "Shuttle Bay," she said aloud and the elevator started moving. "This is a peaceful mission, Wrex. There's no indication of anything alive being down there and we're only going to watch over Liara and Tali while they explore."

The doors opened to allow Liara and Garrus in. The elevator was thankfully large enough for the whole group to have some space.

"If there's nothing to worry about," Wrex spoke up, "Why are you taking Garrus with you?"

Garrus scoffed. "Did she try to tell you that there was nothing down there too?"

Wrex grunted in reply. "Shepard doesn't think that we all know that when she says: 'nothing down there', it usually means: 'life-or-death situations'."

Shepard frowned.

"Well, I certainly hope not," Liara said, looking at the pair then at Shepard with mild amusement. "I would rather have a peaceful mission and do my research as quickly as possible."

The elevator stopped again, opening its doors for Tali, who looked at the group as they stared at Liara with utter incredulity. "What?" she asked, cautiously stepping into the elevator. "Did Liara wish for a quiet mission again?"

Wrex barked a laugh and Garrus chuckled at Liara's indignant expression, and even Shepard found a smile forming while she shook her head in bewilderment.

Tali giggled and patted Shepard's arm. "It's okay, Shepard. We're just a big dysfunctional family."

"That, we are, Tali," Shepard said, chuckling and unable to hide a very honest smile as she took in the group. "That, we are."

"Hey, Commander?" Joker's voice interrupted. "Sorry to break this touching moment, but we're getting really strange energy readings over here, are you sure you guys want to go down to Farlas right now?"

"We have to, Joker," Liara responded. "There's too much Reaper activity in the area to wait, and we were unable to even detect this signal before Leviathan; we might be on the verge of discovering something extremely important!"

"Fine, fine, just thought to let you know that your lives might be at risk and all that jazz," Joker replied from the intercom. "But, if you insist, I might have to think twice about coming in and saving your collective asses. Just sayin'."

"I love you too, Joker," Garrus called back.

"Whatever, Joker out."

Liara raised an eyebrow.

"He always gets like that when EDI is not sitting right next to him." Shepard shrugged. The group stepped out of the elevator and into the large area that was the Shuttle Bay. Already James was ready to go.

"Okay, everyone make sure you've upgraded your weapons up with the latest mods," Shepard ordered as she made her way to her locker.

"Are you wearin' that Collector's armor again, Lola?" James called from inside the shuttle. "'cause that thing gives me the creeps!"

"Does it turn you off, James? Maybe I should wear it in the ship!" Shepard called back as she stepped into the armor, which attached itself around her in a really, well... creepy fashion. She left the helmet off for the moment, and went to check her weapons.

"Really, Shepard," Liara chided as the Black Widow collapsed into its portable mode and attached to the designated space on Shepard's back. "An Arc Pistol, a Blood Pack Punisher, a Geth Plasma Shotgun, the N7 Valkyrie _and_ your Black Widow? With all of those, your Omnitool will have a hard time handling any tech uses."

Shepard shrugged. "I'm loading up because I don't know what to expect down there, Liara," she said. "My experience so far with ancient devices has left me a little paranoid."

"What, you're expecting this one to explode and give you even more ancient knowledge?" Liara teased.

"Hey, get on the shuttle you two," Wrex growled, grabbing a Graal Spike Thrower shotgun as he walked past. "And there's nothing wrong with taking some weapons, worst case scenario we target-practice."

"And hopefully, the 'target' won't be one of us with shields maxed," Garrus muttered as he followed Wrex into the shuttle.

"Shepard, do you need to exchange anything in your omnitool before we leave?" Tali asked. "Or are you still using that Defense Drone program I gave you?"

Shepard grinned, pressed a command and the holographic drone appeared for a moment before Shepard dismissed it. "It's my faithful companion, Tali, can't leave home without it."

Tali snorted, but when she walked past Liara and Shepard, she had little spring to her step.

"Should I be feeling jealous?" Liara asked, looking from Tali to Shepard, before starting to walk towards the shuttle.

Shepard chuckled. "Not at all, Liara,"

"Pity," Liara glanced over her shoulder. "It might have been fun."

Shepard stopped cold, mid-stride, watching in stunned silence as her lover jumped into the shuttle. "Wait," she shook her head and started trotting up to the shuttle. "Wait, Liara! What do you mean?"

Liara grinned. "I'll tell you when we get back." She winked. "Maybe."

o.0.o

Earth: Moscow

Year: 2012

Lieutenant Linda Mason cringed as the dying scream of her last teammate pierced her communicator. She was breathing hard and looking around wildly. Just half a block away, she heard another scream; another innocent civilian was dead.

Swallowing her fear, she gritted her teeth and leaned her sniper rifle and considered her options. She was too far away from the Skyranger, with her whole team massacred and aliens crawling all over the place, there was absolutely no chance of survival. A bleeping warning told her that Sgt. O'Riley was bleeding to death, just where she saw him fall.

"Lieutenant," the SIC's voice startled her. "Head back to the Skyranger, they're waiting for you."

"It's no use sir," she said in a far steadier voice than she could believe. "I don't think I'll make it, just tell them to—"

She never finished her sentence. Something large, around the size of a tank, flew past the building she was hiding in, hitting the street and screeching as it tore through the asphalt and upturned a couple of cars.

Lt. Mason watched in awe as the side door opened, her confused mind ignoring the fact that there were civilians approaching the ship.

"Dammit!" the SIC's voice brought her to reality. "That's another spaceship! Those civilians are going to be killed!"

Mason watched as the door opened and... "Sir, that's a human!"

"I can see that," the SIC's voice barely held back the surprised undertone. "I do not recognize the armor, though."

Something else caught her attention. "Sir! A group of sectoids are approaching them!"

"That's not all, Lieutenant!" The SIC said harshly. "There's new aliens coming out of that vehicle! They're like nothing we've ever seen before!"

"They look more humanoid," Doctor Vahlen said. "This is certainly not a good thing. The variety we've encountered now has escalated considerably, and this technology is–"

"The sectoids are shooting the new aliens!" Lt. Mason said, taking aim. "They don't appear to be allies, sir!"

o.0.o

"Lola! Lola, are you okay?!"

Shepard groaned. "What... what happened?"

"Oh, good, I was worried for a moment there..." James sighed in relief.

"You weren't the only one," Garrus muttered as he slowly stood up. He touched his head and looked down at his hand, noticing the blood on it. "I have a concussion, but it doesn't appear too bad."

"Heh, pussies," Wrex chuckled from the back of the Kodiak, as he struggled to pull his leg out of the hole it had made on one of the panels.

"I've hailed the Normandy, Shepard," Tali spoke up. "But there is no reply. I am receiving a curious transmission though, it seems military, but the security encoding is terribly antiquated."

"What is it saying?" Shepard asked.

"Apparently there are alien forces attacking the civilians here," Tali responded.

"Collectors? Could any of them have survived?"

"I don't think so, Shepard, but I cannot access any of the usual networks to cross-reference our information. I am sure though, we landed in a hot zone. Whoever these aliens are, they are indiscriminately killing innocents."

Shepard nodded, her Collector Armor's helmet hiding her expression, but they could all well imagine it. "Tali, stay here and try to access any of the local networks, see what you can find. Garrus, you stay here and cover her. Wrex, you, James and Liara are with me."

"About time," Wrex grunted, pulling off the panel of the wall and tearing it in half, thus releasing his leg. He grinned. "Let's kick some ass."

James returned the grin. "I bet I can kill more evil alien ass than you."

Wrex gave the soldier a considering look, then nodded. "You're on, straw man, but when you lose—"

"IF I lose, you mean," James corrected.

"When you lose," Wrex repeated, "You're buying the drinks."

"When I win, you're buying me whatever I want to eat. For a week." James retorted.

"Come on kids," Shepard spoke up. "Let's clear the area, you can count who killed more orcs later."

"Orcs?" Lyara whispered, pulling out her gun and readying herself.

"From Earth's literature," Shepard shrugged. "I used to have a few holo-books about them." She raised her voice. "Okay, let's go!"

The Kodiak's door opened and the team quickly jumped out of the vehicle, weapons ready and eyes and Omnitools scanning for enemies.

James's eyes quickly noticed the civilians, but his attention was drawn to his surroundings. "Commander, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"If you're seeing centuries-old cars, buildings and clothes... yes," Shepard replied grimly. "Liara, there's a human soldier next to that vehicle, he seems to be in a very bad condition, can you check on him?"

"Shepard," Tali's voice reached her through the communicator. "There's some sort of creatures approaching, they're armed."

"We see them!" James shouted as some sort of energy ray splashed against his shield.

"James, suppressing fire!" Shepard snapped as she ran up to a civilian and tackled him out of the way of one of the blasts. She pushed him down behind a car. "Keep your head down!" she ordered. "Don't run until I tell you to!"

Shepard then turned around, pulling her pistol from behind her back and blowing the head off of one of the strange, gray, bulbous-headed creatures.

A roar was the only warning that the poor sectoids had before Wrex was upon them. With a biotic throw, one slammed against a wall, its back making a loud, cracking noise. The other one only managed to blink before the krogan's backhand broke its neck.

James' automatic rifle tore another sectoid into shreds, splattering its blood on the hood of a car.

A loud screeching sound alerted them to three insect-like creatures that rushed out from a side street. Two of them immediately set their way, while a third stopped to kill a poor woman who had been on its way, ripping out chunks of flesh as its bladed forelegs pierced her body.

Cursing, James took aim and blew a hole in the insectoid thing's torso, killing it immediately. "What are those things? Some sort of Rachni?!"

"I think Rachni are less nasty!" Shepard retorted, replacing her gun for a shotgun and blowing the face off of the furthermost chryssalid.

Wrex was struggling with the last one, but one of James' shots blew out two of its legs, allowing the krogan to throw it to the floor before obliterating its head with his shotgun. He growled at James. "Hey, next time look for your own insect to kill!"

"Whatever you say, big guy!" James laughed.

o.0.o

"Sir, are you seeing this?" Lt. Mason asked.

"I am, soldier,' came the reply.

"Their technology," Dr. Sheng spoke up suddenly. "It's very different from what we have seen so far. Could it be that these aliens are enemies of the invaders? Is it possible that we have new allies?"

"We have yet to see, Dr. Sheng," Dr. Vahlen replied. "Personally I would need more than an exchange of fire to consider them allies."

"Orders?" Lt. Mason asked.

"Lieutentant, you are to–"

The SIC's voice was interrupted by another communicator buzzing into life. "Ugh..." Sgt. O'Riley spoke up. "I didn't know angels had blue skin..."

"O-Riley!" Lt. Mason shouted into the radio. "You're alive!?"

"Mason?" O'Riley spoke up confused. "Wait, oh hell, she's an alien?!"

The sudden chittering sound made Lt. Morales freeze. Slowly, she turned around and stare the arachnid face of a chrysallid as its slobbering maws opened in anticipation.

The window behind her exploded and the alien's head followed immediately after. Lt. Mason fell back and stared in horror at the body of the creature that almost killed her. Shakily, she stood up and looked out the window, down to the open hatch of the vehicle that had crash-landed on the street, where a strange alien gazed back at her, sniper rifle lowered. It then gave her a thumbs up.

"Lieutenant," the commander's voice was a bit strained. "I'm sending the Skyranger to you and the council has arranged for the local authorities to keep the area civilian-free from several blocks away. There don't appear to be any _enemy _aliens left in the area, other than our... new guests. You and Sgt. O'Riley are to make first contact. Ensure they are friendly, and convince them to come with you to base."

"R-roger that sir," Lt. Mason stammered in reply.

Rather than heading back over the dead body of the alien, she simply grabbed a hold of the edge of the window and lowered herself down to street level.

She slung her sniper rifle over her shoulder and slowly pulled out her handgun, although she was careful to not point it at any of the aliens, she found her hand almost had a mind of its own and twitched as she approached them. The aliens had gathered together. She could see the "blue angel" Sgt. O'Riley had mentioned now, as well as the apparent leader, a strange, humanoid alien with curiously female curves and glowing yellow eyes.

The human that had arrived with the aliens took an appraising glance at her, before shifting his eyes to their leader. "Hey, Commander, we have another live soldier."

The commander looked up at her, and approached. Lt. Mason could see several weapons attached to her back, none of them even looked familiar.

To Mason's surprise, the 'alien' took off her helmet, which opened up like some sort of grotesque second skin, revealing a human woman underneath, with shoulder length red hair and green eyes.

Mason could hear Dr. Vahlen's sharp intake of breath at this revelation. After hesitating for a second, Lt. Mason decided that maybe a safe approach would be better. Holstering her gun and standing at attention, she saluted.

The commander blinked, but saluted back. "At ease, soldier," she spoke. "My name is Commander Shepard, of the Alliance ship Normandy, and appointed Council Specter."

"Um," Lt. Mason hesitated again, then stood at ease, clearing her throat. "Ah, thank you for your help, Commander Shepard, we were cutting it pretty close. I thought we were done for."

Shepard shook her head and indicated that Lt. Mason should follow her as she walked towards Sgt. O'Riley and the aliens. The blue one, who was apparently responsible for healing Sgt. O'Riley was curiously studying a sectoid corpse with some sort of holographic... thing around her arm. The large, bulky alien that had killed so many aliens was talking with the sniper alien that had saved her life, while the human male was occupied talking with another female-looking alien that had emerged from the ship.

Lt. Mason, sighed. They seemed like a very cohesive unit. Was this what it was like, to be able to cooperate with other species?

"We were happy to help, Lieutenant," Shepard said, interrupting her thoughts. "Now, this will sound strange, but I need to know, which system are we in?" Shepard hesitated. "And... what year is it?"

Lt. Mason blinked. "Uh, the year's 2012, Ma'am. And, you're currently on Earth. Moscow, in Russia, to be specific.

"Dammit," Shepard muttered, she turned to look at the blue alien. "Liara, what do you make of these guys?"

"I don't know, Shepard," Liara said, stepping away from the felled alien. "They are not part of any of the known Council races." She turned to look at the masked alien next to the ship. "Tali, has the Flotilla ever encountered this species?"

Tali shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Liara," she said, glancing at the bodies. "And I think I would know if we had encountered such a violent species. Even the batarians are more likely to stun civilians rather than murder them in cold blood. Although sometimes death might be a better fate."

"Great," Shepard sighed. "Any idea how we got here?"

Tali sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but the last thing that happened was a spike on the energy levels of the device we were approaching. It could have sent us all the way here, maybe it was an alternative FTL device?"

"It's worse than that," Shepard spoke up. "Not only are we on Earth–"

"Earth?" Wrex spoke up, glancing around. "From what you told me, I half expected it to be crawling with Reapers."

"As I was saying," Shepard growled. "Not only are we on Earth, but also the current year is 2012."

"But... that's impossible!" Liara gasped. "The sheer energy a device like that would need is... well, completely beyond what our initial scans indicated!"

"Um, ma'am," Lt. Mason spoke up. "My commanding officer ordered me to extend an invitation for you and your... crew... to come with me and Sgt. O'Riley to our headquarters. I'm afraid the general population of the world is mostly unaware of what's really going on with the alien invasion."

Shepard glanced at the others. "Can your commander give me his or her word that my team will not be imprisoned or questioned?" her face darkened. "Because you have absolutely no idea what hells we've been through, and trust me, it won't be pretty if they try to pull one on us."

"Lieutenant, assure Commander Shepard that she and her team will not be touched," the commander's voice came through the radio.

"But, commander, the scientific value of these aliens–" Dr. Vahlen started to say, only to be interrupted by Dr. Sheng.

"Is probably not worth it in comparison to what they can provide themselves, if we befriend them," the head of engineering said. "Commander, I strongly suggest we make every effort to not only befriend them, but also have them help us as much as possible. It's clear they can handle the aliens just fine."

"We might as well," Dr. Vahlen sighed. "Just earlier this month I was wondering what it would be like to have amicable discussions with aliens. Might as well start with the right foot."

"It seems we are all under agreement," the commander spoke up. "Give them our assurances, Lieutenant. Big Sky is almost there, we can load their vehicle into the Skyranger and see what we can do over at HQ."

Just as the transmission cut off the Skyranger started to descend right next to them. Lt. Mason turned to face Shepard and nodded.

"Alright, people!" Shepard snapped. "Let's help with clean-up and get the hell out of here. We don't have time to waste!"

As the strange group got to work, Sgt. O'Riley stumbled up to Lt. Mason. "Hey, Linda, are you okay?"

Mason noticed she was shaking. "I'll be okay. I'm just–"

"Confused? Bewildered?" O'Riley chuckled weakly, he looked down for a moment. "Yeah... me too. We-we should go get the others."

Lt. Mason sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I think Geoff was just half a block this way..."

o.0.o

"I don't get it, Shepard," Wrex growled as soon as the two human soldiers walked away. "How can this be Earth? There are no Reapers around, and the technology... it's ancient! Humans might be wimps, but there's no way the alliance would only send a squad of ill-equipped kids to take care of enemies."

"And did I hear correctly when that soldier said the year is 2012?" Liara asked. "Shepard, that's almost two hundred years before the Reaper attack."

"Wait, what?!" James asked, staring at Shepard. "Are you for real, Commander?"

"What, the technology, clothes, weapons and architecture didn't give you a hint, Vega?" Garrus asked.

"Watch it, Vakarian," James warned.

"It seems we're stuck in the past for now," Shepard said, "But what's even worse, this is not the same past. Earth was never attacked by aliens until we found the Mass Relay."

"Could the government have covered it up?" Garrus asked.

"Maybe from the civilians, but a hundred years later, when weapons like that would have been very useful?" Liara nodded to the broken up plasma gun on the floor. "I highly doubt it."

James took a look over their shoulders. "I'd better go and help them move the Kodiak," he said as he hurried towards the engineers that had come out of the Skyranger. "Don't want them to give Cortez another reason to kill me!"

"Shepard," Tali spoke up. "What do you intend to do with the hostile aliens here? It's clear that Earth is not prepared to fight them."

Shepard and the others looked as one by one the remains of the soldiers were taken into the airplane.

"There's little we can do for now," Shepard sighed. "I might be able to give them some advice... and maybe we can help, but our priority should be getting back home and stopping the Reapers."

The group nodded.

Shepard walked up to Lt. Mason, who had finished loading the last of her team onto a stretcher. "My crew is ready when you are."

o.0.o To Be Continued o.0.o


End file.
